Was Karna a virtuous hero?
Answer Podcast
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna was Karna not a virtuous charitable hero answer yes Karna definitely had his good qualities and he fought heroically on many occasions and he was extremely charitable but at the same time he does not have to be made whiter than what he was he is definitely not a black character as was Duryodhana but he does not have to be glorified more than what he was sometimes he is seen as such a wrong character that the wrongs that he did are often overlooked so consider the wrong which he also did so it was he who called Draupadi a prostitute in the Kuru assembly when the Pandavas had lost everything in the gambling to call a respectable lady by such a horrible form of address was completely antithetical to the principles of Kshatriya Kshatriya culture and Kshatriya course Kshatriya is meant to protect the honour of others especially protect the honour of women not dishonour them and then he it was he who suggested that Draupadi because now she had been won over she could be disrobed in public what a monstrous idea it was to have a honourable lady disrobed and dishonoured like that in public and it was he who instigated that he instigated the whole proposal by suggesting it to Duryodhana and then it was Karna in the Kurukshetra war he was the person who suggested when Abhimanyu was destroying the Kaurava army from within at that time it was he who suggested that some scheme has to be devised for stopping him he said that by fair means he is unstoppable and then he went to Duryodhana he told Duryodhana go and ask Drona and then it was Drona who suggested the idea that the six of them attacked together and Karna was a part of that team which so viciously ganged upon a young man and killed him so this was a terrible act which Karna did and then further Karna was also a part of the team that conspired to have the Pandavas sent away and burnt alive again what kind of hero these are not the actions of a great hero so certainly Karna acted heroically on occasions but he also acted almost demonically on other occasions so he should not be romanticized into a wrong hero because he himself did wrongs and grievous wrongs at that